Anton "Ton" Pronk (21 May 1941 – 26 August 2016) was a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender who played for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in the 1960s and for

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

in the early 1970s.

Club career

Pronk came through the

youth system and made his senior debut for the club on 4 September 1960 against PSV.Ton Pronk (75) overleden
- Ajax He played in 337 official matches for them during the 1960s, winning 4 league titles and 3

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

s. He was on their losing side in the 1969 European Cup Final and was released by Ajax before the club won the Champions's Cup for three successive years in the beginning of the 1970s. He joined the newly formed

at the end of 1970 and finished his career with them.Seizoen 1970/1971
- FC Utrecht

International career

He made his debut for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in a May 1961

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and earned a total of 19 caps, scoring no goals.National team stats
- Voetbalstats His final international was a May 1969 World Cup qualification against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Personal life

Pronk married Marjan Meier in 1969. Their son, Robin, used to work as a youth coach for Ajax and FC Utrecht and is currently a coordinator at the academy of Polish club

Zagłębie Lubin Zagłębie Lubin S.A. () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Lubin. Founded in 1945 as ''OMTUR Lubin'', the club competes in the Ekstraklasa. History The football team was founded in 1945 as OMTUR Lubin by lo ...

After retiring as a player, Pronk was appointed as scout at Ajax and

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...

named him chief scout in 1991 until he retired in 2007. He was honoured by Ajax in 2011 for being member of the club for 60 years and is credited for bringing Jari Litmanen and

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

to the club.De grote successen gingen aan Ton Pronk voorbij
- NOS He died of

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

in August 2016 in

Purmerend Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. Purmerend's population grew relatively slowly until the 1960s ...

.Voormalig Ajax-speler Ton Pronk (75) overleden
- NOS

Honours

* International Football Cup: 1 ::1962 *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: 4 :: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 *

: 3 :: 1961, 1967, 1970

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pronk, Anton 1941 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Amsterdam Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers AFC Ajax players FC Utrecht players Eredivisie players AFC Ajax non-playing staff Deaths from motor neuron disease Neurological disease deaths in the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch sportsmen